Bruce Springsteen - 1978-08-19 - Philadelphia, PA (SBD)

Bruce Springsteen

1978-08-19

The Spectrum

Philadelphia, PA

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

CD 1:

01. Good Rockin' Tonight

02. Badlands

03. Spirit In The Night

04. Darkness On The Edge Of Town

05. Heartbreak Hotel

06. Factory

07. The Promised Land

08. Prove It All Night

09. Thunder Road

10. Jungleland

11. Rave On

12. The Fever

13. Sweet Little Sixteen

CD 2:

01. Sherry Darling

02. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

03. Mona

04. She's The One

05. Growin' Up

06. Backstreets

07. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

08. Born To Run

09. Because The Night

10. Quarter To Three

Bruce Springsteen - 1978-08-19 - Philadelphia, PA (SBD)

In 1969, Bruce Springsteen formed Steel Mill, a band that also included 3 future members of the E-Street Band, Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. (Note - the band was originally called Child, but when they found out that another local group was also using that name, they changed it to Steel Mill). Steel Mill became quite a popular act on the Jersey Shore, and some sources say they attracted the attention of the Woodstock organizers, who invited them to play the festival. Their manager turned it down, citing they had local club dates that they were contractually committed to.  Who knows, if Bruce and Steel Mill had gone, maybe his legendary encounter with Janis Joplin would have  happened sooner - go here for details!

In any event, this soundboard recording captures Springsteen some 9 years after Woodstock, when he had grown from Jersey Shore legend to rock superstar. In May 23, 1978, Bruce launched a 115 show tour that would last through the end of the year in support of his new album, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, which was released on June 2. Darkness was Springsteen’s first disc since Born To Run In 1975; the 3 years wait the result of a legal battle with his former manager, Mike Appel. All 10 songs from the album found their way into the Bruce’s set list at some point during the tour, with Badlands taking the prominent role of show opener. Perhaps the long wait for the album had increased the level of emotion among Bruce’s loyal fans, as the shows on this tour are often described as intense. Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh wrote, for example, “The screaming intensity of those '78 shows are part of rock and roll legend in the same way as Dylan's 1966 shows with the Band, the Rolling Stones' tours of 1969 and 1972, and the Who's Tommy tour of 1969: benchmarks of an era.” This soundboard recording captures Bruce on August 19, 1978, 41 years ago today in Philadelphia. Download this one to hear Springsteen during what many say was the best tour of his career.